Linus (Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel) is revisiting the issue of the Linux trademark. He, with some help, trademarked the name “Linux” about 5 years ago; technically, if you are going to use the word “Linux” as part of your product or service, you need a license.
More detail on this can be found in this article, or at the Linux Mark Institute website.
Some will be crying, but Linux is supposed to be free! Well, it is free; but to protect the name from misuse, or from being capitalized upon by parties with no authority to do so, it’s been trademarked. A quick perusal of the Linux Mark site shows that the fees involved are fairly minimal; a non-profit or a business with gross revenue under $100,000 only needs to come up with $200 per year to use the Linux trademark. Not to bad, if you are actually in a business or non-profit entity.
This causes me to wonder; now that I have “ElectricLinuxLand” atop the page, do I need a license? Is the blog a “service”? Do I benefit from using the Linux trademark in the site header? As it stands, I don’t think I need a license… if I thought that I did, I’d probably just change the name — I don’t see $200/year being worth it for this little site. ;-)
